Portable earth boring machine



Od 8, 1935- J. H. cRowl-:LL

PORTABLE EARTH BORING MACHINE Filed oct. 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 J@ H@OWP/Z i Am w l 5. Z9 9^ MM 2 PORTABLE EARTH BORING MACHINE Filed Oct.16, .1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 GMM/MM35.

Patented, oct. s, 1935 UNITI-:DV STATES PATENT OFFICEr` 3 Claims.

My invention relates to a portable machine for drilling holes in theearth. It has particular application to machines for drilling holes ofcomparatively shallow depth of from a few feet to a hundred feet ormore.

My invention has as its object the provision of a portable drillingmachine which may be moved and operated by one or more men.

I desire to provide a device which may be moved easily from place toplace by the operatorswithout the necessity of any vehicle or specialmeans of transportation, and which may be positioned and the drillingoperation accomplished without the necessity of any additional equipmentaside from the machine itself.

I desire particularly to provide a machine in which the operator oroperators may raise or lower the device in drilling and may addadditional lengths of drill stem from time to time without the necessityof any draw works or cumbersome equipment such as is usually necessary.

I further desire to provide a drilling device in which the drill stemmay be easily lengthened as the drilling proceeds and which may beremoved from the well by the operator without the necessity of any extraequipment whatever.

In the drawings herewith, Fig. 1 is a side view partly in elevation andpartly in section showing one embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section illustrating a couplingemployed at the upper end of the Well.

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the type of coupling employed toconnect the sections togeth`er in the well.

Fig. 4 is a. transverse section on the plane 4--4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a similar section on the plane 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a. top plan view of the assembled device;

and y Fig. 7 is a side elevation illustrating the manner inv which thedevice is supported and operated.

In the drawings, with particular reference to Fig. 1, it will be notedthat the operating mechanism is housed within a housing I, which may berectangular in shape or of any preferred form, which is provided withlateral supports 2. With reference particularly to Fig. 6, it will benoted that the supports 2 are connected with a rectangiilar shaped frame3, which answers as a handle or supporting member whereby the operatorsmay control the operation of the machine. It willbe noted in Fig. 1 thatthe lateral arms upon the frame are curved downwardly so as to form attheir outer ends a transverse member which may contact with the groundwhen the frame is lowered by the operator.

Within the housing I, I contemplate the provision of a motor 4, whichmay be of any pre- 5 ferred form, and I contemplate the use of aninternal combustion motor, which is supported Within the housing upon atransverse bracket 5. The upper end of the motor may project above thekhousing as shown. 10

The drive shaft of the motor has thereon a gear 6, which is connected byintermediate gears 'I and 8 to the gear 9 mounted upon the shaft I0,supported in the housing for rotation. At one end of said shaft I0 is abeveled gear IIfwhich is 15 operatively connected with a beveled gear I2upon a downwardly extending drive shaft I3, said shaft being rotatablein upper and lower bearings I4 and I5 in the housing. The lower end ofthe shaft I3 projects through the lower wall of the housing and 2g hasthereon a chuck or coupling member I6.

The said coupling I6 is shown best vin Fig. 2. It has its lower endapproximately cylindrical at I'I but has two laterally extending keywaysor channels I6 to receive keys or ribs I9 on the drill 2;, stemcoupling, as shown in Fig. 3.

Each lower section of the drill stem may be of any desired length and Icontemplate sections of three or four feet in length. These sections aremade up of hollow tubular members 20, the 3;) ends of which are threadedto engage within a coupling 2I having lateral keys I9 thereon aspreviously noted. It will be understood that when a new section is addedabove a section 20, which is connected with the chuck I6, the lower endof the section will be screwed in the upper end 2l of the next lowersection, the upper end of the new section being engaged within the chuckwhich is elevated a sufcient distance to be engaged over the upper endof said new section. 40

The lowermost section of the drill stem or rod is engaged with a drillbit or auger 22. This bit may be of any preferred construction andmay beformed as is the ordinary post hole digger, but should preferably be of-sturdy construction. I have shown a bit having two lateral blades 23,the lower ends of which are curved and sharpened at 24, each blade beingcurved and interfltted as shown at 25. Thus, when a suicient amount ofearth has been accumulated within the bit or auger, it may be raised tothe surface and the cuttings removed and the drill again inserted to thebottom of the hole.

My device is of particularly convenient and effective form so that itmay be operated and has the advantage that two operators can entirelyconduct the drilling operation without the necessity of any furtherequipment. Thus, in the operation of drilling a hole, such as shown at26 in the drawings, the operators will support the frame manually, in a.position with the chuck I6 tted over the drill stem. While the drill isbeing rotated by the mechanism disclosed, or any other desirable form ofmechanism, the operators will exert suicient downward pressure upon theframe to move the bit downwardly into the hole. While it is necessary toproceed slowly in the drilling operation, the weight upon the drill willbe controlled easily by the two operators either raising upwardly on theframe or pushing downwardly with the desired force so that the bit willadvance as desired.

When the hole has advanced sufliciently to necessitate the addition ofanother section of drill stern, the device may be supported upon theends of the frame while the drillers obtain a new section of pipe andplace it in condition for coupling in with the lower section. The newsection may be screwed upon the old section of coupling 2l below andthen the frame may be raised up and moved over above the new section soas to couple the chuck over the same and then the drilling may proceed.

When it becomes necessary to remove the drill stem so as to empty thecuttings from the bit, the frame is raised so as to remove the chuckfrom the upper section 20 of the drill stem and the frame may besupported at one side of the hole. The operators may then raise the bitfrom the hole manually by pulling the drill stem up until a coupling isreached and the said coupling may be unscrewed and the drill stemremoved one section or more at a time until the bit can be removed andemptied of its cuttings.

It will be seen that with this device shallow holes and holes also ofsome depth can be drilled without any additional equipment. The wholeoperation of the device is manually controlled,

the only mechanism necessary being that to rotate the drill stem, andthat is of portable nature. I may provide a gas tank 21 in the frame ifdesired from which the fuel supply may be conducted to the engine.

What is claimed is:

1. A portable drilling machine comprising a frame, a housing supportedon said frame, a downwardly extending drive shaft on said housing, meansin said housing to rotate said shaft, a 10 chuck on said shaft includinga. cylindrical sleeve having opposed keyways therein, a drill bit, asectional drill rod connected therewith to rotate the same, andcouplings between the sections of said rod having lateral ribs, saidcouplings being formed to t said chuck to engage said ribs in saidkeyways.

2. A portable drilling machine comprising a frame, laterally projectinghandles on said frame adapted to engage the ground and support saidframe when the machine is not drilling, a housing supported on saidframe, a downwardly extending drive shaft on said housing, means in saidhousing to rotate said shaft, a drill rod, a coupling member thereonadapted to slidably intert with said chuck, and an earth boring memberon said rod, said frame being supported by said rod with said handlesspaced above the ground in drilling.

3. A manually supported drilling machine comprising a frame havinglaterally extending handles, curved downwardly to furnish a support whendesired, and serving as means whereby said frame may be moved verticallyand laterally as desired, a downwardly extending drive shaft on saidframe, a motor on said frame, operative connections between said motorand said shaft, a chuck on said shaft, a sectional drill rod slidablyconnected to said chuck for rotation and a boring tool on said drillrod, said frame being raisable by said handle to allow insertion ofdrill rod sections.

JOHN H. CROW'EIL.

